I had the perfect opportunity to work on my series in that last three days whilst participating in SAQA’s virtual conference.  What an experience! Read my earlier post http://SAQA 2020 MoSAiQA Conference (Toronto)

Nature’s Palette Series

I am continuing on my current series Nature’s Palette.  My current work focuses on materiality.   I challenge myself to use the fabric and paper that I use to wrap and protect the scarves and wraps I create in the dyeing and printing processes.

As I was sorting through some of the paper towel  that was used as a barrier for eco printing a scarf,  I came across a piece that spoke to me.  Usually I put them in my recycle pile.  I liked this piece and was going to mount it on canvas.  But then I gave myself permission to play.   Fabric was auditioned that was used to wrap my scarves for steaming and played.   I found a piece of cotton that would interplay with my paper towel piece.  Finally  I found I could place the paper on the fabric so that the lines from one would extend to the other.

So I stitched along the lines.  So as I listened to talks at the conference I kept stitching and voila.  My  finished piece.

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Maybe you have heard of the Slow Movement or Slow living.  In the textile world it refers to going back to handstitching, to doing things without rushing.  I belong to the  Slow Movement as the art processes used to create any of my art pieces or fashion asccessories are all intrinsically time consuming and meditative.  There are several major steps involved in the making and creating.

Whether I am making a scarf, a top for my Snowy Textiles or a piece of art for my  Nature’s Palette Symphony series I usually start with white fabric or white watercolour paper or cotton rag paper.

First step of my art process

• Collection of the leaves, barks, soils that I want to use to paint, print  and create marks with.   I collect on my walks and sometimes drive out to specific  places to collect what I will use.

Step two of my art process

This is the making the decisions stage – of how I want to create, colour and mark.  Before I can start I have to decide:

• whether I am going to use mordant/s and how eg added to the pot or pre mordant the fabric or post mordant and how. There are several different ways depending on the fabric I want to use.
• what sort of palette I want to work with – dark, coloured, natural
• whether I want to create patterns or just dye or print.
• whether I want to colour the cloth first and then print it, or print and colour it at the same time, or do several ‘dips’ in different colours and then print, or print and then colour.
• whether I want to steam it or ‘cook’ it in a pot.If I want to cook it in the pot I have to decide what sort of pot I want to use – copper, aluminium or steel.  Then I have to decide whether I am going to just do it in water or whether I want to dye it with bark or foliage or indigo.  If I am going to use foliage or bark I have to break it up into small pieces, place it in the pot and bring it to a slow simmer for several hours.   Bark I need to leave for a long while, even up to a week or two before I simmer it.
• if I am going to steam it I need to ready the pot and have it steaming ready for my bundles.
• how I am going to create a tight bundle – by rolling, folding and clamping, just clamping and whether I wanted to use paper or fabric between the layers to stop the ghosting of prints.

Step three of my art process

This is the stage of creating colour and marks. – the printing and / or dyeing process.  This is a long but rewarding process.  Laying out of the leaves is a contemplative process.  I will:

• mordant the fabric if that is what I decided to do.
• dye my fabric if that is what I decide to do before printing, rinse it and dry it.
• lay my fabric or paper on a table and arrange foliage on it. Sometimes I may create marks with rusted objects prior to this.   After carefully arranging the foliage, seeds, bark, fruit or vegetable skins I will make a tight bundle.  I may roll it around a stick or tube and tie it very tightly or clamp it.  Then I will steam or ‘simmer’ it often for several hours.  OR
• apply shibori techniques to create pattern and put it in a ‘simmering’ pot, or in an indigo vat, OR
• apply both steps to the same piece of fabric or paper in either order, OR
• having done any of the above then post mordant the piece.
• after processing it with steam or in a pot, it has to cool and is eventually unwrapped, dried, ironed and in the case of fabric washed dried and ironed again. It is magic to undo the bundles and see the results.  Paper I unwrap as soon as it is cool enough to handle.  Fabric I will leave several days to give time for colours to release as much as they can.

If I am making a scarf or wrap this will be the end of the creating process

The fourth step of my art process

This is the hardest but the most exciting stage and I love the challenge.  I will decide:

• whether to leave the compositions on paper untouched or to add something to it.  Will this be the final step or not.
• whether to leave the fabric compositions untouched or to add something to it.  Will this be the final step or not.
• how to use the pieces I coloured and marked to create an interesting and dynamic composition.  I audition the pieces and decide on a starting point and then keep adding and subtracting until I have an interesting composition and then decide how I will enhance it with stitch.

You can see how I created Improvisation 1: Lost in the Mist and Improvisation: #2 Tranquility from my Improvisation using Nature’s Palette series in my blog posts on them.

The final fifth step of my art process

This is a contemplative and meditative stage as I may decide to add pen, pencil or ink marks to the work or create texture across the surface with thread.  If I am handstitching it is a very slow process and takes hours and hours.  If I am machine stitching it is still very intense as I colour in with thread.

I love doing this and can’t stop myself from doing it.

https://rasamauragis.com/art-gallery/#Improvisation-Series-using-Nature’s-Palette

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I decided to make a piece for the 2017 SAQA Trunk Show. I refer to this abstract piece as an improvisational study.  The guidelines stipulated the size of 10”x7”. I had no idea what I wanted to create so again I decided to let the fabric speak to me and guide me.

I took out my stash of eco printed and naturally dyed fabrics and I auditioned the fabrics. I kept pulling out fabrics, looked at them, fondled them. I let serendipity take over.  It kept changing until finally I just had the little bits that came together and spoke to me. I then continued to play with placement until it felt right. I challenged myself to include a technique I haven’t used for a while so I included a bit of trupunto. I also challenged myself to use more than one hand stitching stitch and to use machine stitching as well.   The stitching then took over. Again I just let the marks on the fabric lead me in my stitching. I didn’t photograph it during the process because I was just so totally engrossed in it.

I called it Improvisation #2: Tranquility.

Why? Because piece to me evokes a sense of calmness and calmness and tranquility was what I felt as I created it. As I looked at it, it also was suggestive of a restive place as it seems to reference trees, shrubs, maybe a pond. Then from a side angle in particular a face appears with a dominant mouth.

I used silk fabric with marks created during natural dyeing and eco printing on fabric process. I collaged the piece and then used very dense machine quilting and handstitched using the stem stitch, chain stitch and running stitch. The printed marks on silk together with collaged pieces and stitching create movement and texture.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating it and it is part of a series I am working on using naturally dyed and ecoprinted fabrics.

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